Some call it more disruptive than Melissa was: a virus tucked in an e-mail message called "I Love You" or "Love Letter" - mostly targeting Microsoft Outlook e-mail program users - has clobbered Asian and European computers and has been snaking around the United States for at least a full day at this writing.
First spotted in Asia, the virus is said to have originated from within the Philippines, although there is no solid confirmation at this writing. Security systems company F-Secure was reported to have been the first to catch the virus's existence and activity.
Early reports on the virus said some American government agencies - including the Pentagon, the Federal Reserve Board, and the U.S. Coast Guard - were hit by the virus.
F-Serve research manager Mikko Hypponen has told several news sources the first report of I Love You was seen at 2 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time May 4 from Norway. He said I Love You was already spreading twice as wide and fast as Melissa did. Four hours later, he continued, I Love You/Love Letter had hit over twenty countries.
This virus uses Outlook to send messages with the virus to everyone listed in the targeted user's e-mail address book. Hypponen said a large publishing firm was hit, costing them their entire photo archive - and other media companies, like radio stations and ad agencies, are also prone to suffering the worst damage from the virus.
CNET reported "one mid-sized Web site," unnamed, reporting the virus wreaking havoc on its computers - but spared the Windows-specific worm because the site serves from a Linux platform. "It was taking any MP3 files and it was making duplicates of itself with a VBScript extension, and any '.jpg' files on our server were being transformed to VBScript," the site administrator told CNET. "We've got an employee who got nailed heavily, and every '.jpg' graphic has been converted to a '.vbs' file."
But one of the highest profile MP3 sites - controversial MP3.com - seems to have gone unscathed at this writing. A company spokesman said warnings went out early May 4.
The FBI said it was beginning an assessment on the virus's impact, both in the U.S. and abroad. But the bureau isn't saying - yet- whether I Love You/Love Letter had infected its systems.
Once an unsuspecting user opens I Love You/Love Letter, the virus overwrites all existing local script and HTML files and picture or music files, with a code of its own, according to F-Secure.
Melissa, named by its creator for an exotic dancer he fancied, jammed corporate e-mail last year and wreaked over $80 million in damage in 1999.
The National Infrastructure Protection Center issued an official warning on the virus at 8 a.m. PDT May 4. If you think you may have been infected, contact your antivirus software Website for help and inoculation, then contact the nearest representative of the FBI or any civilian or military computer incident response group.
The National Infrastructure Protection Center issued an official warning on the I Love You/Love Letter virus at 8 a.m. PDT May 4. If you think you may have been infected, contact your antivirus software Website for help and inoculation promptly, then contact the nearest representative of the FBI or any civilian or military computer incident response group. Or, call the NIPC watch and warning group at (202) 323-3024/3025/3026.
